Ann, you might have missed a comment made by Imus earlier in the morning on the same subject. Prior to having Mr. Kerry on the air to "rehabilitate his comments", Imus said something that was/is dead-on correct:

"John Kerry always thinks he's the smartest guy in the room, and he's not...." I may be misqouting somewhat, but this was the essence of the comment.

I think that this is in fact the case, that Mr. Kerry seems to truly believe that he "gets it" when everyone else is an unsophisticated boob. As my father said to me (perhaps on far too many ocassions) "...what makes you think that you're right and the rest of the world is wrong?"

As I'm sure you know, astrophysicists recently discovered that not only is the universe expanding but that it's expanding from every point in the universe. This means, for one thing, that we are each and every one of us the centers of the universe.

Unfortunately, like all too many folks, John Kerry hasn't kept up with his homework and still believes that the universe is expanding from his own grandiose entitled tin-eared center...

Amazingly, I still people driving around with Kerry Edwards bumber stickers, like some badge of honor.. "at least I didn't vote for Bush!"

As time goes on, is that really something you want to brag about? I can understand holding your nose and voting for him (sort of) but 2 years later, calling the senate floor from Switzerland, Teresa don't call me Heinz Kerry anymore, where's those military records you promised, still no legislative accomplishments...

Based on lots and lots of anecdotes of Kerry doing something arrogant and clueless, people in Massachusetts say that the initials JFK mean "Just For Kerry." His behavior in this situation is perfectly consistent with the many stories demonstrating his arrogance and sense of entitlement.

Kerry evidently believes that no publicity is bad publicity. He couldn't care less about his fellow Dems as long as he can once again focus the nation's attention on himself.

I'm not gonna let these guys distort something completely out of its context solely for the purpose of avoiding responsibility, which is what they're doing

And here I thought we were distorting it completely out of its context solely for the purpose of making Democrats look unpatriotic for the upcoming elections.

How does "distort[ing]" what Kerry said "avoid[] responsibility"? Bush avoids responsibility for the Iraq War because he refuses to acknowledge Kerry's incisive humor? I think we're beginning to see the extent to which John Kerry believes American politics revolves around him.

John: you do know that elections are coming up, Republicans couldn't care less about you personally (even less so after this string of gaffes), you're not even running for office, your chance to avoid being Swift Boated was two years ago, the only reason Dems wanted you to fight back two years ago was to win the election, and by the way, elections are coming up?

You might have noticed a common thread in that last paragraph. If you're John Kerry, you think that common element is John Kerry.

But wait a minute--we didn't distort his words at all. He did. Whether he meant what he said outright, or it was a Freudian slip, or a completely innocent mistake, they're his words. They passed through his lips. If he was a responsible adult, he would take responsibility for that.

For instance: he would explain that he botched a joke before launching into a massively deranged, foaming-at-the-mouth rant, not 2/3 of the way in to his second post-speech statement.

If he aspired towards something more, he could even acknowledge that it was entirely reasonable that honest people of good will could take his remarks at face value, and be offended. He could choose not to insult people who assumed he meant what he said. That would be . . . almost statesmanlike.

Does Kerry want to be in the spotlight before the Dem victory so he can claim credit for it? That's my guess. The nutroots are eating it up. Some of them at dKos think Kerry is a tactical genius, and that he intended things to unfold this way from the start. It's primal scream therapy by proxy, or something.

I see the excuse has been honed a bit. First it was that he meant to say study and you can do well, otherwise you might get us stuck in Iraq.

Which did not really make sense.

The refined excuse is now that he meant to say something along these lines:

“I can’t overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq.”

Which would work as a criticism of Bush, if it was coming from someone who had voted against the Iraq war.

But Kerry voted for the war.

So the refined excuse now is Kerry calling himself intellectually lazy.

Now I'm hearing that John Kerry says he botched the joke by inadvertently leaving out the punchline: "Just ask George Bush" (to have been delivered right after "... stuck in Iraq.)

Does this make sense? I mean, Lord knows I'd never argue that Bush is a deep thinker, an accomplished "big S" scholar, a great speaker or even generally erudite in the accepted sense. But he did graduate from college***, after all, and has an MBA. Neither degree was issued by a community college, unless that's how we now describe Yale and Harvard, respectively. So how does that joke work, exactly? If anything, by his rather inchoate logic, Kerry oughta be arguing AGAINST staying in college, etc. etc. etc.

Weird.

**[From Wikipedia: "He was a C student, scoring 77% (with no As and one D, in astronomy) with a grade point average of 2.35 out of a possible 4.00.

By comparison, also via Wikipedia: "Over four years, Kerry maintained a 76 grade average and received an 81 average in his senior year."]

This whole thing is so tremendously absurd, and I mean in the "capital A" sense as well as the generic one. The next week can't POSSIBLY pass too fast for me.

Why did so many listeners in the audience gasp? They've never heard a Bush-is-Dumb joke before? We're talking about Pasadena, not . . . is there anywhere in the country where people don't tell Bush-is-Dumb jokes? The world?

This doesn't prove that Kerry meant what he said, but it proves it's not dishonest to have interpreted it that way. Unless half of the audience at Pasadena City College were Rovian plants. They heard it all in context, and they came to the conclusion he was insulting the troops.

In his Imis interview Kerry claims he has supported our troops for 35 years. Made me look up his 1971 testimony to Congress: "KERRY AUDIO CLIP: They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."

Michael Farris said".."He's not a candidate for anything and latching onto this stinks of desperation and DECEIT and the thought the it might work doesn't speak well of anyone involved."

Michael, where is the deceit? A top Dem said what he said- it's on tape and his words caused significant outrage. So, I ask you again what does deceit have to do with it?

My 2 cents- Dems ought to stop defending has beens like Bill Clinton and John Kerry and Jimmy Carter. Cause they don't gain any new voters when they do and Dems would be better off by nottaking the bait and rushing to defend. I suggest you fight today's battles but use today's Dem stars not yesterday's.

As to why non-Dems should not take my advice, we have way too much fun kicking Kerry and Bill Clinton.

He's not a candidate for anything and latching onto this stinks of desperation and deceit and the thought the it might work doesn't speak well of anyone involved

Neither is George Bush a candidate, yet the ads that I see on television are formulated as if the Democratic candidates are running against him. It is a stupid story, but this is what we get in the stupid season with stupid and self centered politicians.

Why is Kerry suddenly persona non grata if he's done nothing wrong and this is just a desperate Republican ploy?

Deceit?

How has Kerry been maligned or misrepresented? He told community college students that if they study and work hard, they either: 1) won't end up the military, or 2) won't end up making similiar decisions to those of a man with two Ivy-league degrees and college grades equal to Kerry's (and whose Iraq invasion plan Kerry voted for, btw).

"Neither is George Bush a candidate, yet the ads that I see on television are formulated as if the Democratic candidates are running against him."

There's a significant policy difference between Bush, a sitting president and the junior senator from Massachussetts who's not running at present (full disclosure: I voted for Kerry but he was close to my last choice and I really hope he'd just go. away.

DrillSGT: uhh i'm pretty sure George and John want JFK to run in 08. Not so much Hill and Harry.

This could have been ended yesterday by a simple "I screwed up and I'm sorry", but no. He went on the offensive. And boy was it offensive!

Kerry now has no scheduled events up to election day. The cancelations are coming in fast and furious. A Kerry event would have made the candidate look bad and distracted from the race. That's a bad twofer, but it's the kind of twofer that JFK is great at.

How many days of the end of the election will be consumed by this? We're at 2, I'm betting this goes through Friday, at least. That's not exactly tactical brilliance. Plus what else are they going to talk about on the Sunday shows (filmed on Fridays)? He didn't just keep digging his hole, he called in a freaking backhoe!

I would love to vist the time when poltical speech in the US was a high-level intellectual debate about important topics. But it's always been a nasty dogfight. Nastier at times (Lincoln, for one).

And even earlier than that.

"He is a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father." -- said by supporters of John Adams, of Thomas Jefferson, during the 1800 election. They further claimed that he favored legalized incest and prostitution. For his part, Jefferson's supporters accused Adams of planning his child into British royalty and give the country back to England.

Later, Andrew Jackson's supporters called JQ Adams a "pimp"; Adams retaliated by claiming Jackson was the son of a mulatto man and a British army whore.

Really, a look at American history shows that modern campaigns are actually some of the *nicest* ones we've ever had.

Soldiers . . .Iraq . . .Soldiers. . . Iraq. . . will be the all the impression that remains in six days

Um, you need some verbs and adjectives to go with "Soldiers" and "Iraq". Indeed, from your post it isn't even possible to discern if you're for or against the war, think things are going well or poorly, or feel positively or negatively about our military forces there.

It would appear that you think the juxtaposition of "soldiers" with "Iraq" has some obvious meaning. It doesn't.

WANDA: Yes they do, Otto. They just don't understand it. Now let me correct you on a few things. Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not "Every Man For Himself." And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are mistakes Otto. I looked 'em up.

Incidentaly, when you say I have done something in the past I have told the truth in the past. I have never done anything except tell the truth. And I'm not going to take anybody's comment to suggest that somehow my telling the truth was a mistake. The American people rely on the truth, and when I came back from southeast Asia, I told the truth, and I am proud that I stood up and told the truth then, and I have told the truth about Iraq every single step along the way.

If having "Iraq...Iraq...Iraq..." said over and over were such a great thing for Democrats, you'd think the Democrats themselves would have spent the past month saying "Iraq...Iraq...Iraq..." instead of "Foley...Foley...Foley..."

I can only guess at why they haven't been saying "Iraq...Iraq...Iraq..." Perhaps they don't want to hear the voters responding "...Policy?...Policy?...Policy?"

he's an empty suit that was postulated as the leader so he'd lose and set up HRC in '08. he took a hit for the team so as to burnish their cred with suitable outrage. rovian? coordinated?

he is a pompous asshead as his first missive after the initial reaction showed. DNC/Kos talking points personified. fishy? coordinated?

The Left has one note: We're not Bushies. That's a hollow premise to bet the future on (for anyone with sense). Thus by fashion or faux pas, this gets people's attention on the attrition. He can go away now. He did a good job. Good Doggie.